


A Muted Love

by Between_The_Unwritten_Pages



Category: Leverage
Genre: Drama & Romance, F/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-10
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:26:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25007668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Between_The_Unwritten_Pages/pseuds/Between_The_Unwritten_Pages
Summary: Eliot Spencer has done many things in his past. One such thing was to guard the daughter of a close friend of Monroe's. Although there was mutual attraction between the two, there wasn't a chance for anything to come from it.It's been 3 years since he last saw her - until she shows up in Portland running from her own dark past. They are completely different people and yet exactly the same.And the attraction between them hasn't faded...
Relationships: Eliot Spencer/Original Character, Eliot Spencer/Original Female Character
Comments: 5
Kudos: 13





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first post on AO3 and I don't know how often I will be posting. 
> 
> I don't own anything in relation to Leverage or it's characters but Abby Fortin is my OC.

Paris – Café La Fleur 

They sipped their coffee in silence and watched the city around them start to come alive in the early morning. This was their favorite café. The coffee seemed just a tad bit stronger than the others, the pastries just a bit flakier. They had tried out other cafes within distance of their small apartment but nothing compared to La Fleur. 

Nate glanced to his right across the iron table between himself and his wife Lara. Seeing her cupping the small espresso mug near her lips and blowing the steam away made him smile. He'd figured out it was the mundane things that made him smile the most. Lara had always been beautiful to Nate. Even when she’d been Sophie Devereaux. She was amazing when she was grifting, gorgeous when she was figuring out the pieces of a con in that golden brain of hers, and yet somehow magnificent just reading the paper in bed next to him. 

The annoying sound of his cell phone ring tone broke the silence and he saw Lara glace in his direction out of the corner of his eye as he reached for the darn thing in his pocket. 

“Hello?” He looked back at Lara as she placed her cup down and raised an eyebrow at him. 

“Nate” 

“Ah Eliot!” He relaxed a bit more into his chair, his eyes sliding back to the road outside the café and the shops that were starting to open their doors across the way. “Is everything alright? You're not calling to tell me you’re retiring, now are you? I only just heard from Parker that -” 

“Nate, I need your help...” 

He stilled. 

Eliot never asked for help and Nate had pointed that out the day he and Lara left Leverage. He sat up straight his eyes locking with Lara's. If the request from their old hitter wasn’t enough to strike alarm into his chest, the tone in which Eliot spoke was. 

“What do you need Eliot.” 

Lara’s eyes widened and Nate listened to him rattle off his request. 

“We’ll be on the next plane out.” 

By the time he’d stood and put is jacket on Lara was already a few steps away, her jacket on and purse over her shoulder. Their coffee all but forgotten. 

“Nate?” 

“We need to get back to Portland. Now.”


	2. A Name from the Past

“Good afternoon - you grumpy ray of sunshine!” 

Eliot Spencer scowled at Hardison as the dull pain behind his eyes slightly intensified. He’d only just walked into the back room of the pub, hoodie pulled up over his head and a duffel bag over his shoulder. Hardison was standing before the impressive wall of televisions, a tablet in his hands and a grin on his face that made Eliot want to punch him. The screens all displayed different camera shots of the pub. It was early, barely before noon and the place was already packed. 

The sight of full tables and patrons eating happily at their gastropub almost made Eliot smile. Almost. 

His eyes slid over to Parker would was perched on a stool by the briefing table. Her legs crossed under her and a bowl of cereal hovering under her chin as she crunched rather loudly on its contents. A box of cheerios and a carton of milk sat on the table before her. 

“Seriously?” 

Parker paused spoon held halfway to her mouth to glace over at him. He nodded towards the box.

“We had a late night...What? They’re banana flavored. You want some?” She grabbed the box and held it out towards him. He eyed it coldly for a moment before turning away from her. With a sigh he tossed the duffel bag onto an empty stool and slid into the one next to her. The bag might have last night's set of clothes in it, and he might have just changed in one of the bathroom stalls before joining them, but he wasn’t about to tell them that. 

“I think that’s probably the healthiest-unhealthy cereal you’ve ever eaten. Do you know what’s in that shit? It’s full of sugar and fake fla-” 

“Not that I want to interrupt an important and informative speech on what it is my beautiful girl is ingesting every morning, and the better choices she could be making, but our client shows up in exactly 8 minutes and I still have a handful of carefully gathered and impressive information to sha-” 

“Yeah, yeah! Get on with it already!” Parker yelled with a glare. 

“Alright woman, keep your parachute on,” Hardison gave not so subtle cough of displeasure as he turned back to the screens behind him. 

“As I was saying, our next client arrives in - 7 minutes. She’s a lawyer and has a good record. More wins than loss’s in our good-old justice system. Nothing terribly big though. I think the biggest fish she ever put away were a group of thugs scamming the Toys-for-Tots fundraiser 2 years ago.” 

“Hardison...” Eliot pinched the bridge of his nose and willed the encroaching tequila shot caused headache to stay away. Hardison ignored him and continued as a photo of a well dress woman in a gray business suit appeared on screen. She had brown eyes and short brown hair that had Eliot staring. It was a fairly uncommon hair cut for legal practitioner in his opinion, edging closely to a fade cut on the sides. Not that he had much say on hairstyles considering his was down to his shoulders once again, but hers was shorter than the woman from last night with whom he’d shared said shots with. 

“Her name is Kathrine Phillips. Says her client has critical info that will put a Mike Holdings, CEO of Holdings enterprises away for embezzling money from his construction company into funding illegal purchasing of weapons for a bunch of mobs and over all bad dudes.” 

“Why does that name sound familiar?” 

Hardison answered Eliot by flicking something on his tablet and another few images appeared on the screens. This time a photo of a man with various shots of a tall building and files with the Holdings logo splashed across the top. He was a taller lithe man with silver hair in army cut. Eliot felt himself scowling at him. 

“Mr. Holding has been on my list for potential targets. The guys accused of buying faulty and cheap goods, there have been a barrage of safety concerns and a handful of injuries, and a whole list of other breaches in code and conduct. There have been dozens of accusations against his construction company but they’ve mostly been dealt with legally.” 

“Mostly?” Parker raised an eyebrow. 

“He’s paid off a couple of the complaints outside the courts and one of the people that filed against Holdings was attacked not long after he filed his complaint, but I haven’t actually been able to link the attack directly to Holdings. The poor dude didn’t make it any easier by getting attacked outside a bar. In short, it’s a lot of suspicious goings on but nothing concrete to nail him with.” 

“So, what’s she coming to see us for?” Parker placed her bowl down and crossed her arms, “If she’s got information to put him away herself what does she need us for?” 

Hardison raised a finger to point at Parker before wiping across his tablet. The pictures and pages disappeared and the cameras from the pub once again showed across the screens. Together they watched the same woman from the picture walk in the front door and be shown to a reserved table in the back corner. She slid into the booth and pulled her shirt straight. 

“That’s what we’re going to find out.” 

*** 

“That's why I need those account numbers and contacts. With that information I can gather enough evidence to finally link Holdings to the purchases of those weapons.” 

Eliot had sat silently across from Kathrine Phillips his arms cross and eyes periodically scanning the room while Hardison asked most of the questions. It was a simple setup. If she got the evidence against Holdings he’d go away for a very long time. With any luck the case would open an investigation into the Holdings company and the rest of his wrong doings would come to light. 

“You said your client has the evidence?” Hardison's voice had Eliot turning back to the conversation and asking his own. 

“Where is this client now?” 

Kathrine's eyes flickered between the two of them before she sighed. 

“That's part of the problem. Miss Fortin was supposed to meet me last week but she never showed up. I can’t get a hold of her either.” 

Eliot watched the woman sit back and cross her arms with a frustrated look on her face, but something pulled at the back of his mind. 

“Apparently Mr. Fortin has a connection to Holdings and she was able to acquire them while working for her father.” 

Eliot’s mind cleared, the memories snapping to the forefront of his head and he felt himself stiffen and lean forward. 

“She’s since estranged from her father and looking to make things right.” 

He felt his pulse quicken at the thought and possibilities. There was no way. She wouldn’t put herself in that much danger. Would she? 

**_Please Eliot!_ **

He blinked, forcing the sound of her voice from his mind and pushing the memories down. His eyes flickered back up to the lawyer. 

“Your client is Fortin’s daughter?” 

Kathrine turned to him and nodded. 

“Abby Fortin?” 

She slowly looked at Hardison with confusion in her eyes before answering. 

“Yes. Why? Do you know her?” 

Eliot ignored the look on Hardison's face and he fell back against the booth seat. He could hear his blood rushing in his ears and knew it wasn’t from the hangover. 

“Yeah...You could say that...”

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a note with your thoughts. Even the bad ones.


End file.
